George and Cal

THE GEORGE AND CAL STORY

In 1989, while George was performing at the Springs Motor Inn (Colorado Springs, CO) as a single (a gig he held for 22 months) he would invite local musicians to sit in. It was there that Calvin joined him on stage for the very first time. The two hit it off immediately. Their love of the blues led George and Cal to form "Eclectic Rhythm and Blues" and began performing in the Pikes Peak Region. The band lasted two years. George then joined a newly forming variety band, Salt Creek. When the lead guitarist left the band, George recommended Calvin. With Calvin in the band, a new name was chosen (at his suggestion) and "Hot Wax" enjoyed a three-year run as one of the area's most popular bands. Following Hot Wax, Calvin and George started writing songs together and decided to return to the blues. "Metro Blues" was formed in the spring of 1999. Metro Blues quickly became one of the most well known bands in the entire state of Colorado. They performed at the Trinidaddio Blues Festival, The Belvedere Blues Festival, the Red White and Blues Festival at Hudson Gardens, and The Greeley Blues Festival. The band opened for numerous national blues artists, some of which are: John Mayall, Marcia Ball, "Gatemouth" Brown, Tab Benoit and Buddy Guy, Coco Montoya and W. C. Clark. Metro Blues won the "Melody Award" in the blues division of the Colorado Springs Music Awards in 2002. The band recorded two CD's: a "live" recording, Blues on the Edge, featured cover tunes and two originals; the self-titled second CD, "Metro Blues", contained eight original songs written by George and Cal. It received airplay in Australia, Canada, Italy, Brazil, Denmark and the USA. One of the songs, Running Out of Time, was included in the 2004 Colorado Blues Society sampler CD. Because of their love of varied types of music, in 2006 George and Cal decided to also perform as a duo. Their show features oldies, country, blues and novelty tunes sung in tight harmony along with their showstopping musicianship. Recently they have opened shows for Lil' Ed and the Blues Imperials and the Tommy Castro Band.